The government has made a mess of the country’s finances taking the deficit to 4.6 per cent and the debt to more than €500 million (76.3 per cent), in the first half of this year, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning.

Speaking on One Radio, he said debt had to be paid and the actual problem was the interest that was being paid on this debt which was more than the government was spending on education.

He said that in the next budget, on which the Prime Minister was dragging his feet because he knew there was the danger it would not be approved, the government would meet its targets by cutting capital expenditure. This was a trick it had already used last year but which was detrimental to economic growth.

People, he said, had to to realise that the government was being artificial when it came to public finances.

Labour, Dr Muscat said, would be careful with the people’s money.

It would cut waste through better planning, he said, mentioning the recent case where an architect was awarded more than €800,000 by the courts for his plans to transform Zammit Clapp into a cancer hospital, plans which were then shelved.

This money, the Labour leader said, could have been put to much better use in the health sector.

Dr Muscat said that there were still many unanswered questions about the investment in St Philip’s Hospital and warned that it was very uncertain for jobs and businesses to start the new year without an approved budget.